Friday, 12 July 2013

This is a bit of an introduction to Kit Bashing, probably teaching many people to suck eggs but for some this may be the first time you have seen just what a careful selection of extra bitz can do!

It started when I was given a plastic terminator in a job lot of weaponry.

Now I don't hate this model, but it doesn't fit with my Rogue Trader Termies in my Space Hulk set, so if I'm going to keep him he's going to have to be a character. I have a Chaplain, a Librarian and a Captain, but I would quite like an Inquisitor, so that's the challenge. Take a standard, fairly static plastic Termie and make him into a nice Inquisitor figure. Using only the bitz in my bitz box.

Let's begin by taking him apart...

Ok. Now I like the definition on the helmet, but it's just not 'character' enough. Fortunately the way this model comes apart makes it easy to sever the head, but since I like it I'll keep it for later. What head to replace it with? I have a few marine heads, but I'm after something a bit less standard. Here's what I have:﻿

Mantic ghoul heads, a dark elf, an Eldar guardian, a rather horrible cultist head from Dark Vengeance and a Mantic beardy old dwarf head! I have others, but not without helmets etc. Whilst I like the Mantic ghouls (especially the fanged one with hair- if I were doing Blood Angels he'd be top of the list!) but they have no necks and since this is a No Green Stuff challenge that's out. The dark elf is too chaos for this, the cultist is just a really nasty, lumpy sculpt and the dwarf looks silly. Nope, Xenos or not my pick is the guardian. The hair covers any tell-tale pointy ears so he can pass for my human Inquisitor, albeit a young blood.

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Because he's an Inquisitor he can't just have the standard issue Storm Bolter now can he? It's quite a nice, clean sculpt though so I don't want to mess too much. Did think of adding a laser-cut card chainsaw- but since I did them myself and this is meant to be a kitbash I'll restrain myself.

Instead I've opted for just replacing the barrels with this lion head. A bit of extra decoration on the shoulder pad has been provided by bitz from a tactical squad sprue.﻿

Ornamentation on the body provided by a purity seal, a spike, an Aquila, a sword from a Phoenix Guard box, some pouches and a bit of totemic bone- all just spares from other kits, carefully selected and stuck on to bulk up the figure and add extra interest.

With the power fist I wanted him holding a nice close combat weapon so I sliced off the ends of the fingers (carefully and keeping hold of the tips) and glued them on at right angles, filing the fist slightly to make it look like the fingers curve around more to grip the axe. The weapon is a Phoenix Guard halberd- now an exotic force weapon. The buckler on the glove is from a Mantic dwarf set.﻿

Lastly I added a back banner- I'm not really a fan of the sculpted plastic banners but I have a lot of them and it gives something to hang extra skulls and bits off. I do think characters need back banners though- anything to add extra artwork to! Returning to the decapitated head, I've slung it on the back of belt. Don't know how he'll reach it, but if he needs it I'm sure he can call a minion.﻿

There we have it! A perfectly serviceable Inquisitor character built from a standard plastic Termie and some spare odds and ends. This is how easy it is to quickly (this took under an hour) bash together unique characters for your army without having to buy GW's expensive ones! Granted I have a reasonably extensive Bitz box to work with, but with only a few boxes you can create some really nice results, and you can see in this model how easily bitz from different ranges fit together (Eldar, marine, dwarf...) so why not do what we do and have a communal bitz box with some friends? Then you'll have some really crazy bitz to spice up your models with! Happy bashing!

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Promoting the troops... or why you need never buy an overpriced GW character ever again!

Monday, 8 July 2013

Quick snap of some guys I spent a few hours making up last night after deciding I needed some deep striking AP3 weapons to help with some Blood Angels next week. These are pretty much the last of the box of plastic Warzone figures I got back in November, their arms replaced with some old Necromunda guns, Catachan bitz and weapons from the Dark Vengeance cultists. The heads are more of my own cast servitor heads. These were really fun to make up, I love how the different heads and weapons really alter the poses from the ranks and file and veteran squads in the army. The Warzone figures have been really versatile and definitely a top buy for making up the mainstay of an army which could have been very pricey indeed.

As I mentioned a long, long time ago, I have a friend who is building a circussy Harlequin Eldar army. His is one of the forces participating in our little campaign and as part of the campaign we are each selecting a small warband for some Inquisitoresque gaming. My matey wants to have a warband formed of Exarchs of each of the Aspects. He already has Warp Spider and Fire Dragon Exarch models but was struggling to find affordable minis for the others.

Now, I happen to have a more modern Harley troupe and a few (nasty) finecast Eldar bits hanging around and I just thought, hey, what if I built Exarchs from the Harlies to reinforce the troupe theme? They're due to be handed over tomorrow, so here are some photos of what I came up with last night, playing around with some bitz and putty.

The collected wartroupe of Exarchs

Dire Avengers Exarch built from a finecast Autarch, guardian bitz and the axe of a Phoenix Guard.

Striking Scorpion- A Harley torso on Guardian legs with mandiblasters built from more Guardian bitz and some putty.

Howling Banshee- Pretty much a standard Harley with a banshee mask and tabard built on and plastic back banners from a samurai set.

Dark Reaper- Finecast Death Jester with weapon swap and tombstone from an old Skelly sprue. I've built out the helmet into more of a point and added the samurai-style side pieces typical of classic Reapers, but kept them subtle so as not to look cartoony or dominate the figure.

Swooping Hawk- Troupe master with the wings from the Autarch and a lance I had in my bitz bix... is it a shining spear? Not sure. This guy's my favourite, I love how he looks like he's coming in to land.

Friday, 5 July 2013

Getting close to having all the units painted for the AdMech now, mainly the Arcotechton and the vehicles to finish off. Here are the most recent additions to the force:

Vexillarius Sepulchrade and his Aurer attendant. The perspex top of the ensign has a green LED set into it for extra special glowy effect.

This nice little Warzone figure is counting as Marbo. In the one and only game I have fielded him in he managed to overshoot a squad of biovores with his demolition charge and spectacularly failed to slay a lone Termagant... hmm.

The Drogues- special weapon squads equipped with experimental weaponry. A mix of modified Catachans and Dark Vengeance Cultists.

8 servitors for the Enginseers, 4 with servo-arm-type-things and 4 with heavy weapons. Don't know if they'll ever get used but they look pretty.